The nonprofit organization charged with caring for some of Chester County’s most vulnerable creatures — stray dogs and cats — is itself in need of rescuing, a growing chorus of detractors say.

From allegations of animal abuse, poor management and questionable land deals, the detractors paint a picture of a Chester County SPCA that is harming, rather than helping, the abandoned pets it’s meant to protect.

“The inmates are running the asylum,” said a former high-ranking board member who asked not to be named.

Current board and staff members, meanwhile, say critics of the shelter — the Chester County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — are disgruntled animal activists who are trying to degrade and spread rumors about the open-access shelter, which takes in any animals and will resort to euthanasia only if a pet has severe medical or behavioral problems.

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Both sides insist they’re only trying to be advocates for the animals.

In the first of a two-part series, the Daily Local News investigates allegations that the shelter is improperly caring for the animals and has become what some detractors describe as a “kill factory.”

Former volunteers, board members and employees have been speaking out about poor conditions, abusive treatment and high rate of euthanasia of animals at the shelter for months. The CCSPCA denies these allegations.

The spotlight on the shelter brightened after it contracted with Delaware County almost two years ago. The contract calls for the Chester County SPCA based in West Goshen to take in most of Delaware County’s unwanted cats and dogs for a price of $30,000 a month.

The 2011 contract was reached after the Delaware County SPCA became a no-kill shelter, said Tom Judge, Delaware County Animal Protection Board chairman. So far in 2013, Judge said, Delaware County has sent a total of 850 animals to the CCSPCA. The current contract runs through 2017.

Former volunteers at the Chester County SPCA say the deal with Delaware County exacerbated existing problems.

“The problems that are currently going on with shelter were going on before the shelter entered the deal with Delaware County,” said Carin Ford, a former board member who officially resigned in July. “If there were problems before, wouldn’t that just exaggerate everything?”

Leslie Celia, a former volunteer, said she was “fired” in June for protesting the euthanasia of a dog she used to walk. She said the influx of additional animals prompted more to be euthanized for reasons other than severe medical conditions or behavioral problems.

“It’s not like it never happened before that deal,” she said. “But it happened more frequently after. I think they were really burdened with that contract.”

Shelter officials say that isn’t true.

According to Arnie Milowsky, canine kennel coordinator at the shelter, the euthanasia rate has not changed dramatically after the shelter entered the contract with Delaware County.

“We have not euthanized any animal for space in more than a year and a half,” said Milowsky.

According to Milowsky, the percentage of dogs and cats euthanized has not changed more than 4 percent in the past 10 years. He said that so far in 2013, the shelter is euthanizing 25 percent of the dogs and 48 percent of the cats in its care. Milowsky said those numbers are much lower than the national average of dogs and cats euthanized at shelters. According to the American Humane Association, 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter shelters are euthanized nationally.

Milowsky compared the euthanasia rates to the live release rates for the shelter, with 77 percent of dogs and 43 percent of cats returned to their owners or adopted out.

After recent controversy over not releasing those numbers, Milowsky said, the shelter will be posting its euthanasia and live release rates online within the next few weeks.

Those speaking out against the shelter have also leveled allegations about abuses and poor conditions in the shelter.

Jess Halloran, a former volunteer, said one her best friends used to be a kennel technician at the shelter. According to Halloran, the tech told her that after one of the dogs refused to leave its kennel for a kennel cleaning, the tech pulled on the dog’s leash so hard that the dog passed out and experienced “painful convulsions.” Halloran said that tech was never reprimanded.

Conrad Muhly, board president who has come under criticism for his management of the shelter, said he is upset by the abuse allegations.

If former volunteers witnessed such abuse, he said in an interview last week, they should have alerted shelter officials, who then would have launched a criminal investigation.

“Shame on them,” he said, adding that shelter officials did not receive any formal reports from volunteers about alleged abuse incidents.

Theresa Duffy, a former volunteer, also pointed to a recent incident in which a kennel technician tested an air horn, meant to be used outside to break up dog fights, inside the shelter. She said she heard that it had “freaked the dogs out.”

Milowsky confirmed the air horn incident had happened, but he insisted it was not a malicious act. He said that after an outside consultant visited the shelter and recommended an air horn be used to break up dog fights, one was put inside the shelter. The kennel technicians tested the air horn inside “for less than a couple of seconds,” he said, and while the dogs did stop fighting when the horn was blown, it did not cause them any more distress.

Milowsky said that after the incident, he reprimanded the techs for blowing the air horn inside, and the shelter has not had a similar incident since.

Shelter officials said the main shelter at the CCSPCA has been through three inspections so far this year. In May, the kennel received unsatisfactory marks due to housekeeping and maintenance, as well as for not having health certificates for dogs coming in from out-of-state, according to the inspection report. In the other two inspections this summer, the shelter received satisfactory grades in all areas, according to records.

The shelter’s annex facility on Lenape Road in Pocopson, which houses overflow dogs, received unsatisfactory marks in housekeeping and maintenance categories in a mid-August inspection, the shelter said, but passed three additional inspections this year. It was requested at the mid-August inspection that the facility change air filters more frequently.

Nearly all of those who voiced complaints about the shelter said a lack of qualified management and staff is causing the majority of the problems.

“What we’re asking for is for a qualified individual to come in and run the shelter,” said Duffy.

The shelter has been without an operations manager for five months and without an executive director for nearly two years. Opponents say this lack of management is at the core of the issue.

“The problem is not the staff or volunteers who work tirelessly to help the animals,” said Nora Morgan, a current volunteer at the shelter. “It’s more the upper management and the board, who are refusing to hire an operations manager or executive director.”

Muhly said during an interview on Thursday that the shelter is very “focused and driven” on finding an operations manager. He said the shelter has had nearly 30 applications and narrowed that down to three contenders. The finalists, however, did not work out for “various reasons,” such as location and salary issues, Muhly said.

The shelter is continuing its search, said Muhly. It hopes to hire an executive director, who traditionally is in charge of fund-raising, only after someone who “can manage the day-to-day needs of the shelter” in the job as operations manager is found.

He added that “our last executive director made nearly $100,000 a year, and right now we can’t afford that.”

The lack of a full-time veterinarian is another point of contention.

“For a place that can hold 250 animals, why is there only eight hours a week of vet care?” asked Ford.

Shelter officials said there are two volunteer veterinarians that visit the shelter four days a week. The shelter added there will be an additional veterinarian starting soon, so that there is a vet there every day during the week. Officials said the veterinarians are currently there about three hours each day.

There are also three medical technicians, shelter officials said.

If an animal has a problem after hours, office coordinator Grace Keffer said, the animal is immediately taken to an outside veterinarian to be checked out.

Volunteers have repeatedly said that they have been the ones to help sick animals get medical care.

“All of us have seen things that have gone misdiagnosed, undiagnosed,” said Duffy. “Volunteers have paid for these pets out of pocket to get them appropriate care.”

Those speaking out said they hope their voices will cause a change for the better in the organization. Those at the organization said the allegations are false and that they will continue to support the open-access shelter.

“I’ve been here for 10 years; I’ve never once seen anyone being cruel to any animal, or any person for that matter,” said Sherry Springer, a current volunteer. “The people here care so much about these animals, and I continue to support that.”

In the battle of words, both sides agree on one point: The need to protect and care for the animals is great.

“All we want,” Ford said, “is to give the animals a fair chance.”

Tomorrow: Daily Local News looks into a land deal involving the Chester County SPCA that critics have questioned.